08/08/2007 22:18

Headhunter

Headhunter reactivated by Schmier

Destruction frontman Schmier brought his old band Headhunter back to life. He originally founded this band after his short split from Destruction at the end of the eighties.

With Headhunter, Schmier released the 3 outstanding records 'Parody of Life' (1990), 'A Bizarre Gardening Accident' (1992) and 'Rebirth' (1994), together with Jörg Michael (ex-Saxon / Stratovarius) on drums and Schmuddel on guitar. This three records were out of print for a long time and it was only possible to buy them at high price on ebay or from private collectors. Now, the albums will be re-released through AFM Records with a remastered sound and a new booklet with old pictures, liner notes and all lyrics. The release date will be September 7th 2007.

"Since Years, we talked about bringing Headhunter back to life and now we finally did it!. The old Headhunter records which were out of stock since a long time will be re-released as "Nice Price" CD’s with a remastered sound. A lot of fans asked me to reactivate this band during our shows with Destruction or via internet, but by now it was impossible for me to make this happen because of the full schedule of Destuction. To avoid the horrible word "selling off", I took my time to prepare the Headhunter re-releases carefully. Now, even the younger fans have the possibility to listen to the Headhunter songs, which are thrashy indeed, but a little bit more melodic comparing to the stuff we do with Destruction. Something like: NWOBH meets thrash!"

And now, Schmier is ready to go one better – Headhunter will release a brandnew album in the original line up!

"As we prepared the re-master process, I rediscovered my relation to more melodical songs and at a single blow, I had lots of new ideas, that do not match with Destruction. I never lost the contact to Jörg and Schmuddel, so I asked them if they are interested in doing new stuff. Their reaction was quite positive, so we are ready to ressurect the magic of the early nineties! Who will think of just another dispensable reunion will be completely wrong. The main focus of everyone goes to our main bands, but with Headhunter, we have the possibility to have fun with the music we grew up with and play without any stress and pressure. In the nineties, the name Headhunter, stood for independent minded metal and everyone who asks about the sense of this reunion will find the answer on our new record which will be packed with tons of hymns and neckbreakers! – We promise!"

The new Headhunter album will be released in Spring 2008 through AFM Records. To shorten the time to the new release, everyone can check out the re-releases and headbang to classics like 'Parody of Life'. Schmier reports: "I feel like I am 20 Years old...hehe - don't worry... I didn't take any drugs!"

Schmier's comments to the first 3 Headhunter releases:
"We did the first Headhunter record 'Parody of Life', right after my split with Destruction. I originally wrote some of the ideas for the Destruction album 'Cracked Brain', but after the split I used some of them for the Headhunter album. Maybe, that’s the reason why 'Parody of Life' is the hardest sounding Headhunter album so far!
'A Bizzarre Gardening Accident' comes with a pretty nontypical metal cover. It's very diversified and includes hard sounding elements as well as melodical ideas. The different ideas from Schmuddel and myself comared with Jörg Michael's drumstyle formed the typical Headhunter style – something between "thrash", "power" and "NWOBH" - Metal!
For me, 'Rebirth' is the most mellow Headhunter album in terms of the sound and the songwriting. It's my favourite Headhunter album. After all the years, the remastered version sound's really fresh. It kicks fucking ass!"

(source: AFM Records)